Tamil Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran is dead, the Sri Lankan army stated on Monday.Earlier in the day, the SL army, which had closed in on the last foothold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, killed several top rebel leaders.The body of Charles Anthony, Prabhakaran' son, was found during mop-up operations in the last rebel-held territory in the no-fire zone on Monday morning.
The United States and South Korea conducted a big military exercise, storming a simulated North Korean beach defense as tensions on the Korean Peninsula continue to rise.
India accused the two Italian marines on board the MV Enrica Lexie, an Italian flagged oil tanker, of shooting dead two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast on February 15, 2012.
On till February 21, the 'Surya Kiran' series of exercises are aimed at enhancing inter-operability between the Indian and the Nepalese Army units in jungle warfare and counter terrorism operations in the mountainous terrain. The training also focuses on humanitarian aid and disaster relief, including medical and aviation support.
'The challenge is to put in place a strategy for future courses of action beyond April 14 when the lockdown comes to an end,' notes Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
Hundreds of Republican supporters sporting light blue T-shirts and the familiar red MAGA (Make America Great Again) caps gathered at the South Lawns of the White House as the US president addressed them from his balcony in a campaign-style event.
The two sides agreed on forming a joint working group to oversee the repatriation process but its composition would be decided later by both the countries.
The bodies of two terrorists had been recovered on Sunday.
MH-60 Romeo Seahawks would add lethal capabilities of the Indian Navy, which experts say is the need of the hour given the aggressive behaviour of China in the Indian Ocean region.
'Air Superiority that we held from the Second Day of Operation 'Cactus Lily' helped our Armed Forces to speed up operation 'Jackpot' to seize East Pakistan and force Gen Niazi and the Pakistani Army to lay down their arms on 16 December.'
'If the Bangladesh-China relationship strengthens further, it can only be to India's detriment,' notes Vice Admiral Premvir Das.
The residents near the dump had been protesting for months, demanding that the garbage dump be relocated. The authorities, however, claim that they had given enough warning to the slum dwellers to relocate themselves.
'We airlifted army personnel wearing lungis to generally unused landing grounds.' 'We were told to keep quiet about what we did or saw.'
Seven persons were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a security check post in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Wednesday.
According to convention, Lieutenant General Praveen Bakshi should be named as General Dalbir Singh Suhag's successor as army chief
'When people who are safe in their homes think that everything is peaceful -- 'kuch nahi ho raha hai' -- it is because a band of soldiers has already stopped that from happening and the anti-nationals have been neutralised.'
After the Ladakh fiasco where Xi Jinping did not expect the Indian Army to resist his land-grabbing tactics, he has to save face before his colleagues in the Communist party.' To bring the threat of a mega-dam to the northern Indian border is a clever move, observes Claude Arpi.
'Singh apprised the Japanese leaders about Islamabad's 'evil design' on Kashmir at a time when Pakistan has decided to internationalise the issue.'
The 7th CPC places the Indian Police Service (and, almost in passing, the Indian Forest Service) on a level with the Indian Administrative Service, leaving the military out in the cold.
The strategic success of the surgical strikes has not matched their brilliant tactical achievement, says Shekhar Gupta.
'The Chinese -- up to the highest leadership -- will avoid a conflict because they know they will be badly licked.' 'The reputation they have painstakingly built over the last two-three decades of being a global power will be destroyed.'
'In Maharashtra he didn't buckle under pressure.' 'We expect him to do the same as the CBI Director.'
'The same charm that draws men to the armed forces, also draws women. It is love for the nation and honour and pride in donning the uniform,' says Lieutenant Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, the first woman to lead the Indian Army in a 18-nation military exercise.
'Leaders of the Indian community in Hong Kong had broached the idea of developing the Andaman and Nicobar islands for investment and setting up manufacturing units,' points out Rup Narayan Das.
Captain John M Cox, who spent 25 years flying for United States Airways and is now the chief executive officer of safety operating systems at Washington DC, talks to Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa about the MH17 Malaysian Airlines flight which was shot down in Ukraine on Thursday night killing 298 people on board.
'The focus on countering terrorism brings to the issue Beijing's non-serious approach in this regard. India's permanent representative at the UN has raised in vain the issue of funding and the release of 26/11 suspect Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi. But China has blocked these objections since December 2014 at the UN even after 'highest levels' in India intervened,' notes Srikanth Kondapalli, reviewing the India-China military exercises in Kunming.
'Every single American act to weaken Syrian forces would only tilt the military balance in favour of ISIS whom Trump pledges to vanquish from the face of the earth,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
China on Wednesday said the US' naval and air incursions in the artificial islands in the South China Sea will be counter-productive leading to "miscalculation" and "crisis", as Beijing summoned the American ambassador to protest the US Navy's sailing of a warship into the disputed waters.
The US, he said, rejects any Chinese claim to waters beyond a 12-nautical mile territorial sea derived from islands it claims in the Spratly Islands (without prejudice to other states' sovereignty claims over such islands).
The South Asian nations could script a new history of cooperation and prosperity that could serve as an example for other nations, notes Dr Rahul Mishra.
"I've spoken with Foreign (External Affairs) Minister (S) Jaishankar a number of times about this (Chinese aggressive actions). The Chinese took incredibly aggressive actions. The Indians have done their best to respond to that," Pompeo told reporters at a news conference in Washington, DC.
'After a strategic pause though, Beijing will revive its policy of slowly creeping towards acquiring sovereignty over the South China Sea.'
Military sources said the research ship Shi Yan 1 forayed into Indian waters in September but was forced to retreat after it was suspected to be involved in spying.
Will China's new military reforms endanger Xi Jinping's rule?
India has been maintaining that China has no locus standi in commenting on Jammu and Kashmir.
'Assuming the official defence allocations represent the true picture, the $142 billion figure still represents a phenomenal increase and surpasses that of Japan ($42 billion), India ($40 billion), South Korea ($33 billion) and several other Asian countries put together and shows that China is flexing its military muscle.'
Last year, McCain was diagnosed with primary glioblastoma, a type of brain tumour.
The CoI was ordered by Southern Command of the Army and it will also examine any possible involvement of the serving personnel of the Army.
'Till date there have been 482 accidents on account of failure of this aircraft and 171 IAF pilots have lost their lives.'
After entering the Peace House for the inter-Korean summit, Kim wrote in the guest book 'a new history begins now'.
